Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) has always been extremely proud of its string of profitable quarters, which began in the spring of 1991, and traversed a major recession and the massive drop-off in air travel that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks. But when the much-admired carrier bet that oil prices would continue their record climb – and they plummeted instead – the Dallas-based Southwest was forced to report its first quarterly loss in 17 years. Southwest today (Thursday) reported a net loss of $120 million, or 16 cents per share, for the third quarter, down from a net gain of $162 million, or 22 cents per share, for the same period the year prior. Despite the loss, the airline’s shares were up 48 cents each, or 4.15%, to trade at $12.04 at 11:54 a.m. in New York – even though the Dow Jones ...

Consumer Price InflationThe annual rate of increase in Latvian consumer prices was 15.7% in August 2008. Month on month the situation did imporve slightly, since prices decreased by 0.4% when compared with July. The average price of goods decreased by 0.9%, but the price of services continued to increase, and were up by 0.7%. Prices of vegetables and fuel fell, but the price of clothing, catering and rent were all up. Thus while the trend is for annual inflation to moderate, the news is far from unambiguous, with widespread secondary price shocks continuing to make their impact felt.

Food prices were down - by 2.2% - but this was mainly influenced by seasonal decreases in the price of fruit and vegetables and fruit. Bread, dairy products and cheese prices also fell. Fuel prices were down by 4.3%,

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by Edward Hugh: BarcelonaConsumer Price InflationThe annual rate of increase in Latvian consumer prices was 15.7% in August 2008. Month on month the situation did imporve slightly, since prices decreased by 0.4% when compared with July. The average price of goods decreased by 0.9%, but the price of services continued to increase, and were up by 0.7%. Prices of vegetables and fuel fell, but the price of clothing, catering and rent were all up. Thus while the trend is for annual inflation to moderate, the news is far from unambiguous, with widespread secondary price shocks continuing to make their impact felt.

Food prices were down - by 2.2% - but this was mainly influenced by seasonal decreases in the price of fruit and vegetables and fruit. Bread, dairy products and cheese prices also fell. Fuel prices were

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by Edward Hugh: BarcelonaSpanish house sales dropped sharply again in May for the fourth month running, official figures showed on Monday, and talk of price declines is now becoming much more general. House sales fell by 34 percent year-on-year in May and mortgage borrowing was down by 40.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest data from Spain's National Statistics Institute. The result is rather a shocker since many had obviously been clutching at straws following April's better-than-expected year on year decline in new mortgages of only 7.8%. Reality is, unfortunately, now starting to sink in.Sales of resale properties appear to be suffering the most, down 44% to 25,280, compared to the 21% fall (to 24,890) in the number of newly built properties sold by developers. This figure is misleading, however, as the INE’s figures are ...

Germany's economy may shrink this quarter after expanding 1.5 percent between January and March according to Deputy Economy Minister Walther Otremba today.Gross domestic product ``may even be negative'' in the three months through the end of June, Otremba told reporters in Berlin. Stagnation ``would be a good result.'' As we saw earlier this morning, German consumer confidence fell to 3.9 from a revised 4.7 in June, the lowest in more than two years. Asked whether the euro's strength against the U.S. dollar is beneficial as it damps rising oil prices, Otremba said the single currency's gains ``are rather negative overall.'' Still, the euro's effect on oil costs are a ``positive side effect.'' And as may be remembered from the earlier data, the German economy started 2008 with what seemed on the ...

The talking heads on CNBC are wondering why oil prices keep going higher. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's why ...Source: Netoilexports.blogspot.comYou can see exports are down year over year while demand keeps rising. And that's why the Saudi agreement to pump more oil isn't calming the markets -- it's too little too late. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq and Qatar curbed their output by 544,000 barrels a day last year. At the same time, their domestic demand increased by 318,000 barrels a day. So, their net exports dropped by 862,000 barrels.

It would seem that the proposed rise in Saudi production of 200,000 barrels from June to July, on top of the 300,000 bpd rise in May, is not enough to even make up for last year's cut in OPEC exports.

Here is some other news you can use ...

Analyst: Air fares

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All CNBC can talk about this morning is Lehman Brothers. How many people does that effect? Meanwhile, oil is not pulling back much from its biggest one-day surge EVER on Friday. Don’t you think that deserves more headline time? The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States hit $4 for the first time ever Sunday. I think that affects a heck of a lot more people than Lehman Brothers. More on gasoline prices HERE.Gold Rises in London as Dollar, Near-Record Oil Heighten Inflation Concern Gold rose for a second consecutive trading session in London as the dollar declined and oil traded close to a record, bolstering demand for the metal as a hedge against a weaker U.S. currency and faster inflation. Corn Climbs to Record on U.S. Midwest Flooding; Soybeans, Wheat, Rice Gain Corn jumped to a record as rain in the ...

India's inflation held above the central bank's target for a third straight month at the start of May, raising the distinct possibility that commercial lenders may be ordered to increase reserves for a third time this year. Wholesale prices rose 7.82 percent in the week ended May 10 from a year earlier, after gaining 7.83 percent in the previous week,In fact it is quite likely that inflation is rather higher than this as the government is likely to revise the preliminary wholesale-price estimate in two months after receiving additional data. The commerce ministry today reported that the inflation rate broke the psychological threshold of 8% in the week ended March 15 revising its figure for the week to 8.02 percent, the highest since September 2004, and up from the earlier estimate of 6.68 percent. The index of fuel products, ...